BORO BOSS GINNELLY LURES EX-PREM STRIKER TO LIBERTY WAY

NUNEATON Borough have pulled off the shock signing of former Premiership striker Leroy Lita.

The former Middlesbrough and Reading goalscorer will team up with manager Jimmy Ginnelly ahead of the 2020/21 to play Betvictor Southern Premier Central season.

Now aged 35, the Zaire-born forward earned nine England Under-21 caps in a career which started at Bristol City and also took in spells at Swansea City, Norwich City, Barnsley and Birmingham City.

Ginnelly was delighted to secure the services of the well-travelled frontman and explained how he managed to lure him to Liberty Way.

He said: “His partner is from Nuneaton and they’ve recently moved into a house on The Longshoot, which is just five minutes from the ground, so this is a win-win situation for both parties. These sort of players don’t come on to Nuneaton’s radar very often so we moved quickly and obviously all of us here at the Boro are very excited.”

Boro’s current season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic with them sitting ninth in the table and three points off the play-offs with nine games remaining.

Ginnelly added: “Me and Leroy had a good old chat about football and life in general and we finally got to talking about him joining the club.

“The main thing that he seemed to understand was that this move

Leroy Lita lives near Liberty Way wasn’t about money and it was a breath of fresh air to sit with a new signing that isn’t trying to hold the club to ransom for the most money he can get. He simply wants to give some of his footballing experience back to his local club.

“Hopefully he can give the players and our fantastic supporters the benefit of his England Under-21 and Premiership skills.”

Lita started his career at Chelsea before making a name for himself at Bristol City. But it was his move to Reading for £1 million in July 2005 which saw him become an established Premiership performer, scoring 14 goals for Steve Coppell’s side in the 2006/7 campaign.

Spells at Middlesbrough and Swansea followed before spending time in both Greece and Thailand. He most recently turned out for Chelmsford City after signing for them in November 2019.